Mount Rainier ranger dies during effort to rescue four climbers from Texas

LONGMIRE, Wash. -- A Mount Rainier climbing ranger has died during efforts to rescue four injured climbers from Waco, Texas.

Mount Rainier National Park spokesman Kevin Bacher said 34-year-old Nick Hall fell 3,000 feet Thursday from the 13,700-foot level of the 14,411-foot mountain. He was dead when other rangers reached him several hours later.

A helicopter plucked three of the injured climbers off the mountain Thursday night. The fourth, a woman, was waiting out a worsening storm overnight with the aid of park rangers.

The Texas party included two men and two women. Bacher said all four had non-life-threatening injuries. None was immediately identified.

The spokesman said the woman spending the night on the mountain was the least-injured climber and might be able to walk out in the morning.

The climbers were roped together when they fell on Emmons Glacier.

The two women at the end of the rope ended up in a crevasse. Rangers who responded to a cell phone call helped them out of the crevasse.